Cheshire Cat
by Piger123
Summary: "But I don't want to go among mad people," Emma had remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," Sara said, her toothy grin growing wider; "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" asked Emma quite impatiently. "You must be," Sara said, slowly stretching her arms while sitting up on a thick, dipping tree branch, "otherwise you wouldn't have come here."
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Sara sat perched on a tree branch in a fork of a long forgotten, beaten path. She smiled a wide toothy smile, as she reached the ending of her favorite book, Alice in Wonderland. As she slowly purred when the wind crept by her long brown hair, tied neatly in a braid, she remembered what it was like when Emma broke the curse. Although it had already been two weeks, she could still feel Henry's eyes on her, trying to expose her.

Many people thought she was mad, with all her disappearing and reappearing, but Sara knew, in her heart, that everybody was mad. She then recalled a conversation with Emma, when she was new to town, and looking for Mary Margaret after she escaped from jail. "But I don't want to go among mad people," Emma had remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," Sara said, her toothy grin growing wider; "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" asked Emma quite impatiently.

"You must be," Sara said nonchalantly, slowly stretching her arms while sitting up on a thick, dipping tree branch, "otherwise you wouldn't have come here." Emma didn't think that proved it at all: however she went on.

"And how do you know that you're mad?"

"To begin with," Sara said, "A dog's not mad. You grant that?"

"I suppose so," Emma said, questioningly.

"Well, then" Sara went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now _I_ growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."

"I'd probably call it humming or purring rather than growling" Emma said, quite confused.

"Call it what you like" Sara said, fixing her long, draping blue and gray sweater, to sit properly on her shoulders.

"What I don't understand is why you would purr and wag your-" Emma started, being cut off.

"You can now ask where you would like to go." Sara stated.

"Would you tell me, _please_, which way I ought to go from here?" Emma asked quite muddled.

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," Sara replied.

"I don't much know where –" said Emma.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," Sara responded.

"– as long as I get to Mary Margaret," Emma added.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," Sara replied, tipping back off the tree, then catching herself with cat-like reflexes. "If you only walk long enough. Far enough. And to the right locations…" Sara said, her voice getting softer as she slowly disappeared from view.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Around two in the morning, Sara was wandering around the streets, to waste excess time until people woke, when she heard a woman's pained scream being forced into a howl. Sara took a deep breath in through her nose until she smelt it-wolf. Sara immediately turned on her heels and sprinted, not ran, but sprinted in the opposite direction of the howl. She knew that the wolf would follow her because of her scent, but she figured that if she could get up a tree in time, she could escape from being torn limb from limb.

The massive nose shook, ready for a hunt. Ruby wasn't conscious in her wolf form yet, because of her not being able to change for over twenty-eight years, so the wolf, bloodthirsty as ever, was in control.

Ruby's wolf, even when jumping and trying to climb the tree, only could reach the tail end of Sara's long gray and blue striped sweater, which she seemed to wear everywhere. Soon Ruby calmed down and fell asleep at the base of the tree, her head resting peacefully on her shoulder. Before dawn, when Sara could move without being eaten, she climbed carelessly down the tree and swatted the wolf's nose, like trying to play a game. Ruby promptly sat up on her hindquarters, scratched her back with her hind foot and let out a long mournful howl. Ruby then looked at Sara and let out a deep snarl, to which Sara slammed the palm of her hand on Ruby's nose, making Ruby disoriented. Sara sat watching the wolf rub her wounded nose against her leg, letting out soft, distressed whimpers. Sara immediately regretted her response to the growl, and calmly climbed back up the tree, wondering what made her go down in the first place.

What Ruby wasn't planning on seeing was anywhere other than her freezer when she came to, so imagine her surprise when she woke up without a scrap on her in the middle of the forest. After sitting up for around thirty minutes, and her pounding head-ache finally easing up, she finally started remembering what happened the night before. She first thought she was hung-over until Sara climbed down from the large tree she was next to and stated "Wolves eat cats. Damn. I wish I was a wolf!" while shaking her head slightly, and then opening up a large I-know-something-you-don't grin.

"Wait, what do you know?" Ruby asked, her eyes still squinted from the pain of the headache, with her hand holding her head up.

"First let me introduce myself." Sara said, holding her hand out.

"I already know you Sara. I think I've known you the entire time we've been at Storybrooke; at least twenty-eight years." Ruby mumbled, her mouth dry from all her drooling.

"Let me introduce myself formally." Sara added, her hand still out, "Hello Red, I am Cheshire Cat, but you can call me Chesh. Oh, and by the way, I got you some clothes."

Ruby first looked down, oblivious to her naked self, and covered herself up the best she could by crossing her arms over chest and then said, ignoring her hand, "So, you're that grinny-kitty who's crazy…hmm…yep that's totally you. Now can I have the clothes."

"Yep. Here." Sarah said handing her a handful of red clothing, which ended up being a red bikini.

"Wha-" Ruby began once having it on, "this is a swimsuit. I cant go to Granny's in this."

"Well it's that or nothing, so I mean if you really wanted to go nude you-" Sara began before being cut off, obviously amused with herself.

"No. I'll go in this. But you're what, 16? You shouldn't play jokes on grown-ups." Ruby stated, slightly disturbed.

"Actually I'm 15. Plus the twenty-eight years I've been stuck here, so necessarily, I'm about 43. Yeesh! That's old!" Sara said quite smart-assly, completely shutting Ruby up.

"We…we could be pack-mates." Ruby says questioningly.

"We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of disappearing, wide grinning, striped cats, but we're not. At least, you're not." Sara replied plainly. "You see, a cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. And I think that we should be pack-mates because face it, you and I are both pretty, we're animals, and we both enjoy the company of a pack- pun intended. Cat's normally travel alone but for you, Wolfie, I'd happily join your flea-infested bunch."

"Thanks," Ruby started, "but we'd be the only ones. Wait, I should set some ground rules if you're going to be part of my _pack._" Ruby said using air quotations with her fingers. "Rule one is tha-"

"I don't follow rules, any rule you set, I'll brake." Sara said while winking and slowly walking away from her bikini lad pack-mate, while adding "Oh, and I'll bring football next month…"

Ruby shook her head at her friend. "There were cats and then there were cats like Chesh" thought Ruby. She'd surprised Sara once and tried to reduce her to cowering jelly by means of the usual glowering state and a deep-throated growl, which had always worked with her neighbors cats in the past. This time, though, Sara whacked her on the nose, which made Ruby's eyes water. Chesh, Ruby considered, was clearly a lot tougher than normal felines. Ruby smiled to herself and realized that she was starting to look forward to next full moon, which she planned, would consist of jumping around and barking excitedly at Sara. It was a long shot, but it maybe could work.


End file.
